Fructose free experiment

Hi all,

I know this forum isn’t very active, but I thought I’d post anyway. I’ve been wanting to lose a little weight (I gained 4kgs from RRARF and another 4kgs pregnancy weight that hasn’t dropped off yet, my baby is 8 months old).

A friend and I decided to try the I Quit Sugar 8 week program (basically a book about how fructose is evil, etc. etc.). Now having read Matt’s stuff I was reluctant to get back into a “xyz food group is evil” mindset, but, I did also realize that I was drinking massive amounts of fruit juice every day and eating a lot of jams, so if there is any truth to the fructose = fat gain thing I thought I’d experiment. Another factor was that I was consuming the fruit juice, jam etc. for quick energy instead of eating real food balanced meals, so wanted to break that habit.

I pretty much gave up all fructose (including sucrose) cold turkey straight away. In the first two weeks the following happened:

1. My appetite dropped massively for a week, I’d say about half of what it was. I’m breastfeeding (weaning) so this actually worried me a bit. By the second week, my appetite seemed a bit more normal.

2. I lost 1.5kgs but don’t seem to be losing any more.

3. My milk production is a abundant as ever, I actually still have a bit of an over supply (enough to donate some to a newborn who was having some feeding issues). My baby is as content as ever (she’s a big happy chunk), in fact she might even be a little bit less gassy.

4. I quit sugar (sucrose) but replaced it with dextrose (in tea, occasional baking etc.) because I wasn’t willing to give up all sweet things. Not sure how I feel about dextrose, it gives me a great quick energy boost/sweet hit but tastes a bit…powdery. It’s ok in something like breakfast muffins though that don’t need to be very sweet.

5. At first, I didn’t crave fruit/juice at all or miss them, but I’ve found that I’m starting to want that sweet/sour combo you get in fruit occasionally. I’ve eaten the odd apple or pear and satisfied that.

6. My tastes buds changed within a few days and I seem to taste the sweetness of non-sweet foods more, I like this effect as it has made meals seem more enjoyable, I seem to be enjoying the combination of sweet and savory flavors, like mashed sweet potato with a gravy rich mushroom pie. I wasn’t a big fan of sweet potatoes before, they seemed too much like a “health food” :D

I think cutting out fruit juice has been good for my health because I’m eating more real food instead, but I’m not convinced cutting out sucrose has had any benefits, I think a small amount of it does me good so will probably allow some back in, dextrose on oatmeal just isn’t the same as nice melting brown sugar crystals.

But, if this actually works for weight loss, it has been easy for me to do because I don’t actually like fruit particularly, and was only drinking fruit juice out of habit, so it has been a good way to reduce calories slightly without feeling hungry.

In terms of metabolism, I still feel warm and toasty most of the time. My personal metabolism check is to see how easily my hair falls out, if I don’t notice hair loss then I feel all is good.

Sorry for the ramble, just enjoying documenting this little experiment :)

• This topic was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by Rosie123.